City manager a desk job

Worcester residents are being asked what they want in the next city manager.

They need to understand the job description.

A recurring theme at a recent listening session was for the next city manager to be one who "knows the neighborhoods."

Under the city's council-manager form of government, that's the task of city councilors, especially district councilors.

District councilors focus on neighborhood issues, and should know every corner and understand every concern they can. Councilors-at-large, meanwhile, help put together the overall picture of the city and prioritize its needs.

The city manager may indeed be the sort of person to want to see things firsthand, but for the most part, he or she receives input from the council, department heads, and other advisers and sources. The manager crunches numbers, weighs arguments, and makes the hard choices. Ultimately answerable to the City Council and to the residents, who elect and have the ear of the council, the city manager is an executive the bulk of whose work is done alone and in quiet.

Rather than seeking a hands-on manager — visible and involved in every mundane detail — we need someone who has a head for the city's finances, projects, personnel, and vision. The manager keeps Worcester in shape for the future, and should be a manager first, standing above the daily fray.

Michael V. O'Brien, who stepped down from the post in January to take a private-sector job, had the professional qualities we describe, as did his predecessors. Individuals may be more or less effective, and the issues that arise easier or harder to handle, but Worcester's city managers have been executives.

Residents want one who will keep a reliable and steady hand over the entire municipal machine. If we're allowed to dream, we'd also like a city manager who is personable, creative, sophisticated, hates potholes, loves hot dogs, roots for the Sharks, and knows Kelley Square like the back of his or her hand.

But mainly, the city manager must be able to maneuver through stacks of figures, papers, and problems — behind a desk at City Hall.